The show too has its flaws especially of how lazy some sub plots has been resolved so easily or just in a snap, the moments where there is Chi Soo and Joo Yeong is actually one of the best moments of the show, their presence in Geum Bi's life is an escape to her illness for a while and it's touching because at second half of the show that's the part where all things will go wrong and do nothing but sympathize to Kang Hee and Hwi Cheol.
Great drama, will definitely watch again maybe in years to come, I shed too much tears in a single show, TOO MUCH just TOO MUCH
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It's nice watch
This is a short and easy watch. There is only one couple and basically no side character development, so if your wanting something chill and easy to watch in a day this is it. The story is not that deep but the cast is able to make up for it. There is a sexual assault storyline that goes nowhere and feels very out of place. It's dropped in the same episode it's introduced in.The couple is really cute and the acting is good most of the time. At some point, it can feel annoying but I was able to overlook it for how cute the couple is. The couple makes you feel for them when there know their love is theirs but doesn't want to act on it. Can't wait to watch Our Sky 2 with them in it.
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When Indiana Jones meets Harry Potter and Lara Croft--Great as A Stand Alone
When Indiana Jones meets Harry Potter and Lara Croft. This is a very good stand alone action show. Yes a lot of questions left unanswered as well as a bit of a cliffhanger but there is hope to return Zhang Qi Ling and the team because Wu Xie would never just let his soul-brother perish. I am not interested in any of its prequels or sequels unless the cast was exactly the same plus I noticed that some of the sequels were aired before this which doesn't make much sense. I do wish that for this last expedition, Wu Xie and Zhang Qi Ling weren't split up. I don't think there could have been a cliffhanger otherwise. The con aspects were that there were characters that made an appearance and then disappeared without rhyme or reason that didn't pertain to the show.Though I started watching for LYN and his character Shades or Mr. Black didn't disappoint as an opportunistic dork, it was the actor that played Zhang Qi Ling that got my attention. He did a fantastic job as a monosyllabic Kung fu master because of the way he was able to emote with his eyes be it annoyance, fear for his friends, or any other emotion. That's very hard to do in acting when there aren't a lot of lines. The young man (Xiao Yu Liang) playing this role is a novice to acting as he's part of some boy band but he was very convincing. I wish there were more scenes of him and Wu Xie and they left Fatty somewhere behind. That dude just had way too many lines and got annoying quickly. I saw some ppl complaining about too many episodes. Actually, I wanted more. Joseph Zeng also was able to do a great job as the inquisitive nerd with a knack for solving riddles and getting ppl out of hairy situations. It was great to see him in this role aside from the one he's currently in that's not doing him any justice. I really like all of the special effects in this drama and the martial aspects as well.
I also liked the friendship between Shades and Xie Hua. Though in the beginning it seemed very annoying, it grew and developed into respect even when you wanted to smack Shades upside the head, he was still quite dorky. These actors do a great job portraying their characters and making each scene believable no matter what. I wish they continued this series with the same main actors because their chemistry was undeniable. I know I want to see more dramas with Xiao Yu Liang as he has a future in the industry.
I would highly recommend this as a stand alone drama even though it has a cliffhanger ending; it's one with hope.
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Crazy police drama with ups and downs
SUPER LONG DETAILED SPOILER FILLED REVIEWI’ve been waiting for this show since they started filming in 2020 so I started the show with high expectations which ended up not being met now that I got to finish it. I actually watched the last 7 eps through Youku’s express VIP but waited until the series finale to submit a review. Have to also note this is my first time watching a cop drama in general so I wouldn’t have watched this show if it weren’t for Wang Yibo.
Pros:
I like the show’s main cast and how they all have a part to play in the overarching plot about Yunhe being riddled with drugs that are ruining people’s lives. Pretty much everyone in the cast is someone whose life has been changed drastically by drugs so having a personal stake helped me want to root for the police’s goal to stop all drug related crimes. Of course, some character’s individual plots get alot more screen time like Captain Liu stuck between his duty as a policeman and his obligation to protect his nephew who has become a major drug dealer. But I would say Liu and his nephew were vital in blurring the moralities of the police as they are still human after all. I was actually surprised to find out the show didn’t have so many super black and white characterizations, but of course the good stay good and the bad all get punished in the end.
Everyone’s roles are pretty balanced in my opinion, as in no one is just written to be filler and do nothing. Even Chen Yu’s girlfriend ends up playing a larger role in the second half of the drama. The show’s pacing is also pretty fast as even the first 10 eps dump alot of major/minor character and plot info on you with no time to breathe so it might be very confusing at first, but once all the small fry are eliminated and the main villains are introduced it becomes alot easier to follow the story. I also believe the fast pacing has to do with Chenyu’s ambitiousness to chase after and connect every clue he finds about the drug rings–much to the chagrin of his superiors who have to yell at him in almost every episode for going too far. I’m just glad the show didn’t devolve into “young smart cop solves everything while older superiors sit back and do nothing.”
The supporting cast is great, especially the senior officers of the narcotics team who have all been through some shit in their careers. Other good things about the drama would be the consistent tone and rugged atmosphere and the setting being in two different countries. There are alot of suspenseful moments and big flashy stunts that every cop show is expected to have. I wasn’t expecting some brutal scenes though meant to shock the viewers so squeamish people might have a hard time watching this. Everyone’s acting was really good too. I didn't feel like any of the main leads were overpowering one another. The reveal of the true villain of the series was fine for me as I’m not the best at predicting plot twists. However for a Cdrama about police there are only so many suspects to choose from.
Cons:
Ok so despite all the good stuff I just said what really sticks to me the most from this show are what I would consider to be its major flaws. I really wanted to like this show as it’s Wang Yibo’s first serious role so the expectations were higher than average, but there’s just too many writing issues that impacted my viewing experience.
First gripe about this show is Chen Yu’s characterization and development (because I care about him the most). I get that he is young and impulsive and eager to find the truth out of duty and personal reasons, but he’s a bit too reckless for most of the show. He isn’t even a fresh graduate either but he just keeps willingly getting himself into dangerous situations that could cost him his job, but I think his talent and plot armor is the reason why he gets to keep getting away with it. I just feel like that impulsive side of him didn’t really match with the early setup of him kinda haunted by an operation that failed 3 years ago because of his mistake that led to his superiors getting lifelong injuries. I wanna root for this dude but he’s pretty crazy. I’m not kidding you Chen Yu does alot of investigative stuff on his own without permission, even breaking and entering a suspect’s office which leads to him being suspended. But even while suspended he’s still meddling with police operations and STILL disobeys orders and so he gets rewarded by being taken off suspension. There are just so many episodes of Chen Yu doing something reckless then getting told off then repeat until episode 25. I think his growth moment is supposed to be requesting Director Lin to let him do a dangerous undercover mission to infiltrate the bad guys near the end? Beats me.
Second flaw is that the drama does alot more telling than showing, and by that I mean we are told the two male leads Chen Yu and Wu Zhen Feng are supposed to be close friends but they don’t really do a good job at showing it and convincing me. I know their relationship or bromance isn't meant to be the main focus of the story about busting drugs but sadly it is a big part of Chen Yu’s personal motivation to eliminate all drugs as he feels like WZF is his responsibility and chases after him for a good chunk of the show because of that . I don’t feel as emotionally connected to their bond from only being told they were childhood neighbors who only reunited as adults after WZF’s dad’s death 3 years prior to the show. By that time their relationship was already getting rocky due to differences in opinion. We mostly only get Chen Yu’s pov of their relationship so for 25 episodes their estranged friendship feels one-sided with Chen Yu doing all the chasing and pleading with WZF to cooperate with him and the police to clear his dad’s name and catch drug dealers but WZF is just constantly being stubborn and rejecting his help because he believes his underhanded methods are faster. It took a failed operation and scolding from an accomplice for WZF to actually start changing as a person, but he is mostly in undercover drug dealer mode after that from CY's pov. This back and forth goes on for a long time it made me question Chen Yu’s dedication to this dude.
The big plot twist however is that WZF has been working with the police deputy chief since the early episodes but it just feels weird that WZF’s big moment of clearing his dad’s name (which Chen Yu has been wanting to help with since 3 years ago) happens without Chen Yu. It is kinda sad to see WZF spill everything he knows about drug dealers to ChenYu’s bosses rather than the protagonist who has been begging for his trust for many episodes. It gets even crazier when WZF officially becomes an undercover informant for the police but CY is not meant to be trusted with this information which leads to an incident that could have been avoided if they just told him. At the point where CY gets suspended he is starting to understandably feel like he has been used by WZF after all the times he tried to reach out, but he eventually realizes that WZF has been undercover since a few episodes back and I think that is supposed to be the “I forgive him” moment. To me being an official informant in the second half didn’t really excuse how poorly he treated Chen Yu at the beginning but oh well. Ok but after that realization, in episode 26 the two just somehow jump straight into properly coordinating as policeman and undercover spy for the next big operation and they really play it up in front of the drug dealers with WZF calling CY “xiongdi” repeatedly. Some time later when the coast is clear they are suddenly bickering like old friends and sharing snacks in a car when their previous onscreen interaction didn't end well. The mood whiplash felt so jarring because I personally feel like they really needed to have a more climactic confrontation scene that would finally put them on the same page as that would make for a better transition to their cooperation for the port raid. TL;DR I feel like 75% of the drama shows them chasing, arguing, and mistrusting one another, 3% repairing their old friendship in a super subtle way and then 22% cooperating for the final raids like brothers in arms.
It is because of the weird pacing of those two’s friendship I didn’t really feel much when WZF is bleeding to death on Chen Yu’s back in the last minutes of the finale. And if you’ve read other reviews I HATE THIS ENDING SO MUCH IT PRACTICALLY RUINED THE SHOW FOR ME. I watched the finale a week before it officially ended with Youku’s fast pass only to find out that there was a special bonus epilogue. But that didn’t do anything to answer questions except prove that WZF managed to survive. But it confuses me to no end that the “official” ending to this show that had good pacing is a cliffhanger of WZF bleeding out and we are only TOLD the fates of every criminal. The criminals the show spent sooo long to capture only get a fast explanation of their sentencing. The ending is just so abrupt I expected with all that buildup since the beginning and the personal stakes on why they need to get rid of all drugs in Yunhe we would get to see proper aftermath of the biggest drug raiding operation that’s been done, but nah we get nothing. Just a small nitpick but I also wanted to see Chen Yu and Yang Ling reunite because they literally have two moments in the final eps where Chen Yu promises her a “happy and normal life” after he finishes his mission. Would have been nice to see the main casts’ efforts to eliminate drugs pay off after suffering so much but I guess that wasn’t the plan for this drama.
If you’ve read this far I appreciate the time you took for my review. I liked this drama for the not so black and white direction it took on the war against drugs in modern day society, interesting characters and how they all contributed to the overarching plot that never slowed down but the lack of emotional impact from the two main leads and the abrupt ending made this a 7/10 for me. Drugs are bad.
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not communicating hurts more than can imagine...
This time TrueFilm surprised us with an established couple - but as it's typical with their short-stories, they have a problem communicating. You may think it's the same old same old, but it's not. It's a result of social pressure in Korea and someones inability to accept all the love he receives witout being able to give it back 1:1.In this short series (around 30 minutes without last episodes repeat) they acting was a much higher as before. Both leads did a very good job in conveing their characters, so they are very believable. There are of course some production lapses, they had to lip-sync one scene (or they did remove all other noises which made it look a bit steril). Also on-body microphones can hinder a delivery in a scene especially in an emotional scene in the finale, a boom microphone would have been the better choice. Of course they still could not get into a real bar - but I guess that's a running gag for them now 🤣
Overall this was not really entertaining, because it was not fun to watch, but it was a very good watch. Some stories don't need 10 or 12 episodes with 45 minutes to convey a story and they did nail it this time.
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Forbidden thirst
Loved it. Obsessed with it. Could write a thesis about it. Fearing I will find everything bland after it. ZZD and Zuo Yi are completely immersed in their roles. I wish I knew who directed and wrote the drama because there was some really standout work done here, as usual for verticals you have to work with limited means (sets, extras, music, costumes, time, etc.) to sell your story, and they achieved quite a feat of magic, creating this fascinating, enchanting piece of drama set in an exotic, lush bubble.The ambitious story is about the 10-years long tragic, love/hate, push/pull relationship between an immature, self-destructive teenage HK heiress and her ex-criminal guardian running away from his violent past, trying very hard to keep the word he gave to her mother to raise her without touching her, while being desperatly in love with her (mission : impossible). ZZD ad Zuo Yi lit my screen on fire with their raw chemistry, and their romance gave me strong vibes of 90's/00's angtsy melo shoujos like Fuyumi Soryo's Mars, or Saito Chiho's messed up love affairs (he even wears a frilly open-neck chemise, a staple of even older golden era shoujos). She's in a hurry to grow up, he's torn between lust and his duty to see her live her youth without burning steps. Of course she has no idea how much her playful, abrasive and curious behavior is cruel to him until he starts losing control and she finds herself overwhelmed and scared of what she aroused. It's perfect, and then it becomes even more complex as they start to involve other people in their toxic relationship. Complaints were made against the drama for being too confusing, but I think this is half due to brutal edits (some scenes are clearly missing parts) and half the case of a drama that is not overtly explicit, needing you to pay more attention to implied meaning, frame composition, and physical acting/choreography than any telling (they even repeat like a mantra that love is about action, not intention, or something like that according to the subs, I think that's the gist).
For example, they use a TON of water imagery because the story is all about...thirst, and pent-up lust (also water is one of the first visual or sound clue used in dramas to imply desire). There is also the idea that the heroes need each other like they need water to drink or air to breath, combined with the very delicious (yet again kinda old school) plot of the tragic couple that everything pulls apart (danger, age, distance, family ties, generations, engagements, class, even country as he's given a stranger vibe with blond hair and can speak italian). I don't think we need to understand precisely what is going on with the mafia (he's running from a very shady past, thinks he's cursed to cause doom to every woman he's close to : that explains most of his actions until the end). I also think that it's a drama you can re-watch to understand better, as many scenes are quite rich in symbolism (I watched it three times when I discovered it, have since watched it two more times, and know I will come back to it).
Finally, I will fight for the idea that the ending is 100% a true HE : the final arc fell victim big time to obvious limitations in costumes and sets, but there are some definitive clues that it is not a dream (the necklace, the phonecall, the change of scene), at this point of the story she has risen to his level, confessed her feelings (great scene by the way, all done without explicit words) and what he tells her in their little eden is going full circle with their first meeting. Language is very important to the show (love language, foreign language and dialects, body language, what can't be said, the gap between adult's and kid's words, between what you say and what you feel), and I don't know why they would put such an obvious reference to what she first said to him if they didn't intend that precise scene to be his belated, real answer. There is also the fact that he was no stranger to disappearing from her life with no warning, and the way he reappears (while they play the "prove love with your actions" line !) is coherent with the idea that he had to be "reborn" and shed his past to be with her, fully and without pretense (also a staple in romance and dramas in general, using bodies of water all the time to mean the death of an old self and the birth of a new one). Also note how the drama starts at night in dark, troubled waters and ends with them basking in the sun in clear waters after what felt like a never-ending damp, rainy season (I can go on forever with the water symbolism).
So yeah, She's Trouble (hate the "god is a girl" dumb english title that has nothing to do with anything) is getting on my vertical pantheon, and it has ruined me : give me all the pretentiously artsy, indie-like romantic verticals that have deep messages, SYMBOLISM, and the hottest, most talented actors of the vertical industry drowning their existential crisis and sexual frustration in cheap whisky and cold showers while looking fabulous. I'm desperate for a director's cut of it or at least a version with all scenes intact and a solid translation.
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It makes it even more astonishing, more powerful and more welcome that Korea has made Mad For Each Other: a story about two traumatised people trying to navigate their way back into the world and into a relationship with each other.
Jung Woo plays Noh Hwi-oh, a cop with an anger management problem on suspension. His neighbour and partner in therapy is Lee Min-kyung (Oh Yeon-seo) who is suffering from paranoia, OCD and other post-traumatic symptoms after coming out of a violent relationship.
Mad For Each Other is written and structured more like a classic American sitcom than a kdrama. It episodes are a short 30 minutes and the scenes are short, snappy and the camera never lingers or settles. And yet, while it's a fast paced situational dramedy, the writing has genuine pathos, heart and depth. It's a tragi-comedy that treats all its characters with respect and empathy and never opts for a cliche. Its treatment of mental illness is never trite and, while exaggerated, never farcical.
The production values are high, the acting is excellent and the show never makes its damaged characters the butt of its jokes.
And while I would love to be awarding it the 10/10 it almost attained, the final episode couldn't help itself in opting for some unnecessary action to resolve what should have been resolved with the more subtle character-driven plotting it had until the end. But for being almost perfect, I highly recommend this show.
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This review may contain spoilers
Since the synopsis didn't really tell us that there are 3 lifetimes/ reincarnations of our main leads, I thought it might be useful to let those who are potentially interested in watching this lakorn have a rough overview of how the lakorn panned out.STORY (mild spoilers)
1st Lifetime (Episodes 1 - 8):-
The first lifetime, set in the 1900s (King Rama V reign), takes up bulk of the lakorn airtime. I guess this shouldn't be a surprise because the 1st lifetime has a lot of groundwork to cover. It has to introduce the background of our main characters (our male lead is of noble blood, while our female lead is essentially from the servant class), set up the groundwork for how they met and fell in love, drip through ingredients that make the situation ripe for all sorts of misunderstandings and conflict, put our main characters through this recipe of a wringer and then spit them out bloody and broken at the end.
Typical lakorn formulas abound like flies in this section.
One of my pet peeves - screaming characters - was out in full force here. It wasn't only the females that were guilty of this offence, even the males here were screamers and shouters. Considering the fact that one of the reasons I prefer to watch period lakorns was due to the fact that most period lakorn characters tend to be more soft-spoken and dignified in their speech and demeanour, the number of screamers in this show was an unpleasant surprise.
You also have your famously evil 2nd female lead, all decked out in her signature bright red lipstick and flaunting her two-faced personality with impunity. Thankfully, our male lead has got her number and never really falls for her tricks or for her. It's one of the saving graces in this show - our male lead stays faithful and single-minded on our female lead all the way to the end.
This lakorn also has your honorary villains and bad characters seeking to stir up trouble or increase their powerbase. Irritating, over-exaggerated side characters with their bulging eyes and twisted smirks are not exempt from this lakorn too, and strange leaps of logic or missing pieces in the plot puzzle are not uncommon. Convenient plot devices are regularly used (I can't count the number of times a character 'conveniently' leaves behind or forgets a significant item), and illogical reactions or situations can also feature in this show.
In short, this is your cookie-cutter Thai lakorn.
The pacing in this section can be inconsistent too with some parts or scenes being very long drawn or dragged out with lots of slo-mos, while others skip abruptly onwards to the next.
2nd Lifetime (Episodes 9 - first half of 12):-
This section of the show is set 50 years later after the 1st lifetime and had a lot of supernatural elements with ghosts being the main feature. Our main female lead is a vengeful spirit here and she has plenty of company with her too.
Some of our reincarnated characters undergo quite significant character changes too which can be a nice relief, and the plot starts to come together, or at least head towards a resolution. This section has more unpleasant and scary scenes with vengeful ghosts and weird CGI so viewers with a more squeamish heart might want to be aware and prepare themselves accordingly.
The interesting thing about this section? Our male lead falls in love with a ghost. Welcome to the world of 'Pee Mak'!
3rd Lifetime (last 30 minutes of Episode 12):-
The calm after the storm as our main leads get reborn in modern day time and meet again without all that crazy baggage and issues that featured in the first 11 and a half episodes.
ACTING/ CAST
While I have always liked Bella as an actress and thought she did not disappoint here, it was really the 2nd female lead actress (Kao) who played the more interesting and multi-layered character. Bella's character in the 1st lifetime was very subdued and her 2nd lifetime was full of resentment and anger so I found her characters to be quite fixed and almost stereotyped, rather than complexly nuanced.
Grate was very handsome and very fine in this lakorn in all his incarnations/ lifetimes, and his character stayed very much consistent all the way through but again, it was the 2nd male lead actor (Alex) who played the more interesting role.
The side and supporting characters were pretty much forgettable, really, except for our female lead's father's moustache which was terribly distracting in its monstrosity and degree of inconsistency. It made him look ridiculous but certainly very memorable.
MUSIC
Very heavy-handedly done. The music score literally bludgeoned you over the head with its 'mood' music and it is SO OBVIOUS what the show is trying to tell you within the scene simply by its background score. I found it clumsy, in-your-face, distracting and uninspiring. One of the worst music scores in a drama, for me.
RE-WATCH VALUE
I watched this through all the way to the end because I was intrigued with how our main leads' lives get so complicated that it needed 3 lifetimes to unravel the problem (it's definitely an interesting story, lakorn formulas aside). It's an interesting plot and story but I personally wouldn't be interested in re-watching it again after knowing what happened plus it had too many lakorn formulas for my liking.
The romantic scenes were softly sweet and even sometimes sexy. I would only re-watch this if I wanted to see more of Grate's beautiful and warm smiles and hear him say some of the cheesiest love lines, or to see him in his shirtless glory (because there's quite a lot of that to be had in this lakorn).
It is not a bad watch if you're interested in plots involving star-crossed lovers and re-incarnations and ghosts.
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THIS SERIES NEEDS MORE HYPE!!!
Tbh, i had many doubts about this series. I think i started watching it after it already aired for 7 or 8 episodes. Because i am a polka and where is New or Tay, i am there also i had a duty to see it:)) however i still struggled when it came to bringing myself to watch it and questioned my loyalty at some point ° ~°But because i am subscribed to gmmtv channel i kept seeing highlights on my wall, slowly it grew on me because i found myself laughing at the characters antics. So, after i binge watched first 8 episodes cause i had to catch up, i was hooked! I was counting the days until next Monday, and i am not usually into time travel series and stuff but this one had so many interesting stories and tackled so many sensitive subjects in such a fun and respectful way that i simply got to love it. The actors were great with small hiccups here and there but nothing to be upset about. Army and Joe... Mannnn,those two need their own series, fr! The chemistry was top notch *chef's kiss*
Anyways, this series needs more hype and publicity even if for nothing else than the subjects it tackles that everyone has something to learn about!!! GO WATCH IT! are you still here?! Go go go !!! Its on Youtube, on GMMtv's channel, and for FREE! so no reason for whining about any subscription fees. Ok, Bye!
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Dead men walking.
This year 2020 must be the year of detective stories, there are so many that we are spoiled for choice. This one set in the Republican era (1911) hooked me with its dark, eerie prologue that immediately invokes a hint of the supernatural and the presence of evil. Twenty years ago in Fuyuan County, twelve beheaded escorts are brought back to life via an ancient ritual. But the mystery of these dead men walking's murder and the whereabouts of their missing cargo is never solved. Fuyuan County remains a remote suburb of Tianjin that is steeped in dark magic and witchcraft.Tan Bodun is a rising young detective in with the Tianjin Police with a secret - he has a dark side that he struggles to suppress. Accompanied by his side kick Da Pan and his Westernized fiancée Luo Jiazhen, he is sent to the ominous Fuyuan County to solve another spooky and inexplicable murder that takes place in plain sight of the town's elite. On the way they stumble upon another case and encounter Song Chengmin, one of the scions of the affluent Song family. Aided by the local police inspector Zheng Jiewu, they pull at what appear to be disparate threads, more sinister murders occur and threads end up being linked and lead eventually to the unraveling of the twenty year old cold case.
What I really like about this drama is that the overarching mystery is well written and there are enough clues and suggestions along the way that when all is revealed, everything fits together and intuitively makes sense. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the many sub-mysteries. As often is the problem with this genre, the writers tend to give in to the urge to write twists upon twists upon twists. After one or two times, this becomes confusing, tiresome and in some cases, the final solution is not the best, most convincing one. All of the main characters appear to have their own agendas and behave suspiciously enough to make viable suspects in the crimes. The problem is if they are not guilty these hidden motives are never fully explained, it is really done to create an illusion of probable cause.
Gao Zhiting is a really talented and likable young actor. I really enjoy his portrayal of Tan Bodun and his wickedly brilliant alter ego. In fact I much better like his alter ego but I don't really like that they went down the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde route with the character. It would have been cleaner and more interesting if they just wrote him as a truth seeker with unconventional or occasionally morally ambiguous methods. The rapport and team work between the main characters is very enjoyable and feels very natural; I find Da Pan in particular to be hilarious. However, I am not convinced by any of the romances and I really dislike how Jiazhen turns into a spoiled, willful and immature brat somewhere in the middle to just create some romantic angst.
Although the ending clearly paves the way for another season, as far as the overall conspiracy is concerned it is very satisfyingly resolved so I won't call it an open ending. I wouldn't mind watching this team work together again, in particular if the overall case is as well written as this one was. The only thing I don't like about the ending is that one of the key villains for Season 2 is already revealed as a hook. That was unnecessary and will take a bit of fun out of Season 2 but not so much so that to dissuade me from watching.
Overall, this is a very entertaining watch even though not all of the sub-mysteries are interesting. I really love the spooky, supernatural undertones and rate this an 7.5 for that.
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Shockingly good and well worth the time-link
I first wrote the review after watching 13 translated episodes (many thanks to SOONSETRA for delivering!!!) of this short drama (max 20 minutes long each) and here was my original impression:incredible plot with the "gotcha" villain
amazing characters
awesome dialogues
fantastic acting of leads and secondary
skillful directing
flawless editing
beautiful and fitting OST incl. bgm but in YT version, unfortunately I recognized music from other minidramas (incl. Li Fei's The Tale of Love and Loyalty jig) which dropped the rating half a point.
tacky decor
eye candy outfits
grateful for tactful combining of serious with comedy, thought provoking with slow burn romance and consistent characterization of FL (thanks heavens).
And after finishing al episodes I am sticking to the 9/10 because the story (of poisoned babies, their moms and people dear to the leads) gives depth to this slow romance and tale of friendships and blood ties. Plus we get to see a rare sadness that comes with watching what happens when you live knowing that life is ending before you even started enjoying it. I loved the romance: the actors were very well paired and delivered excellent performance. Majority of production was cohesive and even if there were goofy parts of the script/story that could have been better developed/delivered, this was almost on par with my favorite mini drama A Familiar Stranger.
Who should not watch this: lovers of simplistic plot and usual tropes (I honestly did not see that much of troping here). People who cannot take ambivalence in the ending (don't worry it's good, but not "juicy kiss followed by carrying her princess style to the alcove"-very fitting for what we had seen in 24 episodes). Anybody who needs a villain all throughout the drama.
Is it spectacular? No. But it has nice visuals, even though a bit tacky for my taste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orJVihzImyk&list=PLZHWNFciVYEN4-BtQFe_TJC2wj9TwnSPb
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After this preamble, I'll tell you that this drama can be a challenge for many lol
The main protagonist has really a weak personality and that can be frustrating most of the time. But it's always nice seeing as a person can turn into a new leaf thanks to one's own effort and love.
As for the villain, he's really psycho lol, but still we shouldn't see everything as black and white. I'll let you be the judge of that.
Why don't you give it a shot?
That's it. Enjoy ^-^
P.S. sorry for any mistakes (English is not my first language)
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This review may contain spoilers
Could've been much better, but it's still good
The main problem with this drama is the chopped editing that is very noticeable. Because 7 episodes were cut out, the transition between the early episodes is not very smooth.I oftened asked myself, how are we already here? when did the relationship changed so suddenly?
I can overlook it, though. The plot itself isn't anything new, so if you think you found some unique xianxia, you're mistaken.
The first couple of episodes, I wasn't really sure by the ML acting. It felt like I didn't know what his true intentions were or what his personality is.
When we passed 10 episodes, it got better, and I do like his character. Do I think he's the best demon lord? No. He doesn't really give me that feeling, which makes sense because he doesn't even want to be the Demon Lord.
That's what surprised me the most.
The fact that he would give up his powers and people for Li Fei. The divine tree.
Lei Xiuyuan is very powerful, but so is Li Fei. The writers are just scared to show off her true potential. So she needs to be saved all the time.
Not even once she saved herself, which is honestly sad because I'd love to see her win at least once all by herself.
When friendship between the main characters and side characters is really great. They always come to help. No matter what is happening.
Now the positive things.
I absolutely love Li Fei masters. Both of them would sacrifice themselves for her. They love her too much. They are more like her father's she never had.
They're honestly my favorite masters.
Overall the drama is good. You'll like it if you're watching it for the plot. Even though there is chemistry between the leads, their romance is more like a subplot.
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The continuation and deepening of both Chiaki's and Nodame's talents and relationship are the focus. And they both have to decide what they want and what is important. The story is told in the same funny, silly and charming way the whole series has been told. This movie is the best of them and usually with sequels, you can't say that.
More of my thoughts are expressed in the other review and I'd only be repeating myself too much.
The music is a 10. I can't give it any lower. I think I am more of a classical fan now.
I give the re-watch a 10 because I just got done watching a 2nd time.
I recommend the whole series highly.
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